The version of the poem used to create this study guide appears in: Applebaum, Stanley, editor. English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology. Dover Publications, Inc., 1996.

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

“My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold” is a short, but relatively well-known work by William Wordsworth. Also referred to as “The Rainbow,” Wordsworth composed the poem in 1802, later publishing it in 1807 in his collection Poems, in Two Volumes. The piece is often viewed as a precursor to later and more substantial compositions, specifically “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” as the two works share many similar concepts and themes.

The poem begins with the speaker describing their elation at the sight of a rainbow. They remark on the constancy of such a joyous response to nature throughout their life, from birth, to the present, and onward into the future. As they consider this timeline, they put forth the idea that the child is like the father of the man he will later become because of the wisdom and experience he passes on to his future self. The poem ends with the poem wishing that every day of their life could be bound together by their constant reverence for nature.